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Site 1 is a timber-frame house built to PassivHaus standards, only one of a handful of homes in the country with PassiveHaus certification. In a recent test, the house scored an air-tightness result of 0.56 air changes per hour at 50 pascals- inside the Passivhaus standard of 0.6. A heat recovery ventilation system is the main source of heating. The insulation used is Thermohemp. There's more information on PassivHaus construction here: The PassivHaus institute website: www.passiv.de/
These are semi-detached houses constructed with timber frame and lime-hemp insulation. Pat and Bruce are self-builders who started construction in July 2009. They pre-fabricated their timber frame panels in a nearby workshop and erected them in the style of a 'barn raising' with help from friends and neighbours. The house is raised on block piers to improve energy efficiency. The walls are 400mm in depth and contain a dry mix of hemp and lime in the ratio of 9:1 Bruce has a blog on the build here: http://52-53.blogspot.com/
This design of this house by architect Michael Rice draws on the philosophies of sacred geometry and 'Holistic Architecture'. Una's house is the end of a terrace of three. It's a timber-frame home with natural insulation and lime- hemp internal and external render supplied by Hempire. The home includes a heat recovery system and wall heating to bring the home to A-rated standard. For more information on holistic architecture, click onto Michael's website www.holisticarchitecture.com/
Construction has started on the first cob house in the ecovillage. Cob is a composite earth material using local subsoil mixed with straw or hay which acts a binder and insulator. Virtually all the materials used in the cob building process are bio degradable or can be recycled, making it one of the most environmentally friendly ways of building. Building with cob poses a number of challenges in meeting energy efficiency standards. Cob walls have excellent thermal mass properties which means it stores and releases heat to deliver relatively stable temperatures throughout the year. However, current regulations only measure Thermal resistance (R values), which are then translated to Thermal transmittance (U values). Therefore even a cob houses like this with 700mm thick external walls need highly insulated foundations to meet these standards. Deirdre and Andrew's house is located in a mature area of the site close to the old stone wall, Community Garden and mature trees. This cluster of homes will have a strong cob element running throughout with lots of gentle curves and organic features. This is a finished cob house in the UK built by Kevin McCabe who recently ran a cob workshop in Cloughjordan www.buildsomethingbeautiful.com
Designed by Dominic Stevens, this is a hempcrete house with a difference. In an effort to cut down on waste, John and his builder Ecobuild Ireland have chosen to use the whole of the hemp plant rather than just hemp hurds as is usually the case. The house has 400mm lime-hemp walls giving a provisional U-value of 0.17 and an overall rating of B1. John has predominantly used materials that are produced in Ireland. The roof tiles are made from recyled rubber and much of the interior has come from reclaimed timbers which John has fashioned into stairs, worktops, window sills and tables. Hempire has supplied premixed lime-hemp for this project: www.hempirebuilding.co.uk/ Ecobuild's details: http://ecobuildireland.com/
6 Ard na gCapall | Elaine and Anthony The design of the house (simple and cubic) is informed by the desire to reduce the surface area and thus minimise heat loss. The Builder, Scandinavian Homes, says that the house will have a heating demand of less than 10 watts per square metre at the coldest time of the year. The timber frame wall features 215mm of mineral wool and 700mm of cellulose (recycled newspaper) is packed into the ceiling. There's a page dedicated to the build on: www.scanhome.ie/cloughjordan.php |
